Full Irish Breakfast
A full Irish breakfast with rashers, sausages, black and white pudding, fried eggs, grilled tomato, mushrooms and buttered brown soda bread, cooked in the right order.
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total
- 45 min
- serves
- 2
- level
- easy
A full Irish breakfast is a fried plate of rashers (back bacon), pork sausages, black pudding, white pudding, fried eggs, tomato and mushrooms, served with brown soda bread and a pot of tea. Black pudding is a sausage of pork blood, oatmeal and spices; white pudding is the same idea without the blood. Both come pre-cooked and just need browning, and they are the main difference from the English version of the plate.
This is a timing job more than a skill. Everything needs to come off the heat at the same moment, so you start the sausages first, since they take longest, and keep each finished item warm in a low oven. Cook the tomato and mushrooms in the same pan to pick up the flavor from the bacon fat, and do the eggs last so they are still soft when they reach the table.
For the English version of this plate, with baked beans and a different line-up of sides, try our full English breakfast recipe.
Full Irish Breakfast is one of the best breakfasts from around the world.
method
Heat the oven to 100°C (200°F) and put two plates and a baking sheet in to warm. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-low heat and add the sausages. Cook for 15 to 18 minutes, turning every few minutes, until evenly browned and cooked through. A thermometer should read at least 71°C (160°F) in the center.
When the sausages are almost done, move them to the baking sheet in the oven. Raise the heat to medium, add the bacon to the same pan in a single layer and fry for 3 to 4 minutes per side until the fat is golden. Move to the oven with the sausages.
Fry the black and white pudding slices in the bacon fat for 2 to 3 minutes per side until crisp and heated through. Add them to the oven tray.
Place the tomato halves cut-side down in the pan and cook for 3 minutes until charred, then turn and cook for 2 minutes more. Set aside with the rest. Add 1 tablespoon butter and the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until golden and dry.
Wipe out the pan and melt the remaining butter over medium-low heat. Crack in the eggs and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, spooning the hot butter over the whites, until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny.
Butter the soda bread slices, or toast or fry them if you like. Divide everything between the warm plates, putting the eggs on last, and serve immediately with tea and brown sauce or ketchup.
chef's tips
- Cook the sausages gently. High heat splits the skins and leaves the inside undercooked. Make sure they are fully cooked through.
- Do not overcook the puddings. They are already cooked, so they only need to brown and warm through. Black pudding burns easily.
- Warm the plates. A hot plate keeps the eggs and puddings from cooling before you finish eating.
- If you cannot find black and white pudding, look in Irish or British specialty shops, which often stock them frozen or vacuum packed.